Second Life Talkhttp://secondlifetalk.com
Sat, 24 Nov 2012 09:41:50 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2Learn how Second Life can affect your real lifehttp://secondlifetalk.com/learn-how-second-life-can-affect-your-real-life.html
http://secondlifetalk.com/learn-how-second-life-can-affect-your-real-life.html#commentsSat, 24 Nov 2012 09:41:50 +0000adminhttp://secondlifetalk.com/?p=17With more and more people talking about Second Life, numerous issues have been raised so far. Although some of them are not so worrying, there is one issue which is quite serious and needs to be addressed. Since Second Life can be addictive, in what ways can the game affect your life?

Scientists all over the world have started carrying out various surveys in order to figure out just how many people play the game and what they think about it. Their findings suggest that the number of people interested in playing the game is getting bigger and bigger, which suggests that things will become even more interesting in this online world and that people will start spending more and more time playing the game. However, this can become a problem because although the game is just a game, for many people, this is a paradise, a place where they come to escape their real problems.

If you are susceptible and you find it very difficult not to get addicted to games, Second Life is potentially dangerous for you. Imagine the situation. You create your own avatar in Second Life and you start chatting with all sorts of people and you even come to realize that you like some of them. And after a while, you figure out that you would rather spend your free time with your new friends in the online world than with your real friends that you have known for years and years. Believe it or not, this happens and there are people who neglected their real friends and even the members of their family because they preferred sitting in front of the computer and spending time with a bunch of strangers. According to a recent survey carried out in several cities in the U.S., about 25% of people interviewed complained that their friends or members of their family spent more time playing the game than doing something with them.

People usually play games in order to have some fun and this is what Second Life can help you do without a doubt. However, if you play the game because you are dissatisfied with your life and want to build a new one, keep in mind that this is not really the best way to do it. No matter what, you have to remember that Second Life is not a way to fix your life. Do not take it so seriously. If you do, you will end up dealing with the issues in the game instead of dealing with your real life.

However, there is another way that Second Life can affect your life, which is a much brighter side of the game. Namely, since this is one of the ways people can communicate with each other, there are some people who have managed to find their partners this way. There is a couple in Philadelphia who fell in love with each other in Second Life. They decided to meet and we have news that they have recently got married. All in all, Second Life can affect your life in many different ways, but only if you let it happen.

]]>http://secondlifetalk.com/learn-how-second-life-can-affect-your-real-life.html/feed0How addictive is Second Life?http://secondlifetalk.com/how-addictive-is-second-life.html
http://secondlifetalk.com/how-addictive-is-second-life.html#commentsSat, 24 Nov 2012 09:37:06 +0000adminhttp://secondlifetalk.com/?p=13According to the people that play Second Life, this is a game that is much more than a game. It is an online word where you can get a fresh start and a new lease of life. And when you have an opportunity to start thing over, it can become quite difficult not to get caught up in the whole thing. So how caught up do people usually get and how addictive Second Life really is?

All over the U.S. and U.K. and all over the world as a matter of fact, you can hear more and more people joining the game and spending their free time in this virtual world. While almost everybody clams that they play the game just for fun, for the majority of them, this is more than just a game. And the more they like it, the more time they will eventually start spending there.

There are reports from all over the country about the people who have become extremely addicted. There is a woman from Memphis who says that her husband spends so much time playing Second Life that he has started neglecting her and the kids. He even forgot to pick the kids from school one day because he lost track of time. A similar story comes from a woman in Oklahoma, who claims that her husband even has a new wife in Second Life with whom he spends a lot of time and she does not know whether this constitutes as cheating or not. When she confronted him, he replied that it is all just a game. But is it really?

Scientists claim that Second Life is just a game, but for people with too many problems in their real life, this can become the perfect place where they can spend their time. By running away from their problems and by creating another world where they can solve their problems more easily or where they have no problems at all, they gain a false sense of security. When a person reaches this stadium, this is when things become extremely serious and when professional help is needed.

When it comes to teenagers, they are not in such a great danger because most of them still like hanging out with their real friends and in the real world. Since they generally do not have so many problems in their life, they are less likely to take Second Life so seriously without even realizing it. However, they can become addicted to it, just like with any other game out there.

In conclusion, given that it is a game, Second Life is addictive. However, how addicted you can get depends on your emotional state. According to some experts, kids are less likely to become as addicted as adults with serious problems in their real lives. If you decide to play the game, make sure that you keep in mind that this is just a game. When you realize that you are spending too much or all of your free time there, it is time to stop.

]]>http://secondlifetalk.com/how-addictive-is-second-life.html/feed0Is Second Life safe for kids?http://secondlifetalk.com/is-second-life-safe-for-kids.html
http://secondlifetalk.com/is-second-life-safe-for-kids.html#commentsSat, 24 Nov 2012 09:34:02 +0000adminhttp://secondlifetalk.com/?p=9There is no doubt that social networks such as MySpace and Facebook are one of the most favorite online places where kids spend a lot of their free time. And while these social networks are considered to be generally safe for kids, certain agencies in the U.S. have found out that almost 30, 000 registered sex offenders have active accounts on MySpace. In fact, some of them even use their real names. This is quite a disturbing fact because kids can easily end up talking to such people. The good news, though, is that MySpace is getting less and less popular because there is a new virtual world that is much more interesting – Second Life.

Second Life is sometimes described as a virtual community site, but it is actually a game which people can join by creating their own avatars that can basically do everything that people can do in their real life. They can buy homes, land, they can work and interact with other people, or residents which is what they are called. It all sounds pretty exciting and perfectly harmless, but there are things that make you wonder whether this kind of environment is really safe for our kids or not.

Although the whole thing seems to be cleverly designed because there are basically two parts, or two grids, one of which is for people over 18 and one for teenagers (16 and 17 years old kids although younger ones can join under certain circumstances), it turns out that teenagers can easily access the main grid and that adults can easily access the teen grid. And we don’t know which is worse – teenagers getting access to all kinds of things, including pornography stores or adults of questionable moral values talking to teenagers. The company claims that there are many safeguards who are supposed to prevent this from happening, but they also say that although it is not so easy for teens to access the main grid and for adults to enter the teen grid, it is possible.

According to the survey conducted in the UK, about 15% of teenagers who regularly use Second Life have admitted that they have entered the main grid at least once. And the results of a survey carried out in California are similar. About 18% of teenagers claim that they have managed to take a look at the adult grid and find mature content. The good news is that most of them said that they would not do it again because they didn’t find it that interesting.

We have to admit that although there are some safety aspects which have to be handled more carefully, Second Life is certainly not a threat to teenagers. Just like with everything else on the Internet, there are some inappropriate things that they might run into if they choose to bend the rules. Generally, Second Life is safe, but make sure that you talk to your kids about what kind of trouble they might get into if they do something they are not supposed to.